Numerous hearing devices are able to inject audio signals via a special audio shoe. For this purpose, an external audio device is plugged into the audio shoe. The audio shoe then forms the interface between the hearing device and the external audio device.
An audio shoe usually features a number of contacts, e.g. four, which must be contacted with corresponding connections on the circuit board of the hearing device. As the circuit board is usually located in the center region of the hearing device housing, whereas the audio shoe is plugged into or arranged on the end (battery compartment end) opposite to the receiver, a special intermediate piece is needed to connect the contacts of these two elements. An intermediate piece ZS of this type is shown in FIG. 1. It is contacted on the circuit board LP, which is equipped with components for signal processing purposes.
The intermediate piece ZS is mostly realized as an injection molding part. Metal contacts MK are injected or molded into the intermediate piece ZS, said metal contacts then lying on the exterior of the hearing device. These contacts often corrode, thereby resulting in contact problems between the circuit board LP and an audio shoe not shown in FIG. 1. For this reason, special cover flaps are generally required for the audio shoe. A further disadvantage of the separate intermediate piece ZS is that said separate part causes the assembly time for a hearing device to increase.
Patent specification DE 41 09 306 C1 describes a hearing device with electrical contact means arranged in a battery compartment. An external programming device can thus be connected to a programmable hearing device element.
European patent specification EP 0 334 837 B1 further presents a hearing device with an audio shoe. Contact springs located in the audio shoe create contact with the housing screws of the hearing device.
Furthermore, the publications WO 2004/112431 A1, EP 1 346 602 B1 and CH 675 657 A5 each disclose hearing devices with a detachable audio shoe. The contacts of the audio shoe are connected to corresponding mating contacts on the hearing device housing.